LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - A north Indian street food vendor has been shot at by a customer furious that there were too few onions in his omelette, police said on Tuesday, the latest crime triggered by the soaring price of one of India's staple foods.

The customer opened fire in the village of Aliganj in Uttar Pradesh state after the vendor, Deepu Kashyap, dismissed his complaint by saying "Don't you know that onions are expensive?". Kashyap was able to duck under his food cart just in time.

The price of onions, the foundation of much Indian cooking, has more than trebled in a year, partly owing to erratic monsoon rains. Last month, three armed men made off with a truck loaded with onions, the media reported.

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